Sep 29 10:34 am

Free fam­i­ly-friend­ly pump­kin patch returns to the Island’s his­toric Nolan Park on Sat­ur­day, Octo­ber 24, and Sun­day, Octo­ber 25, 2026 

Fes­tiv­i­ties will include trick-or-treat­ing, music and crafts, ghost tours, fall foliage walks, autum­nal food and drink from Island ven­dors, and more! 

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island is pleased to announce the return of Pump­kin Point, the pop­u­lar annu­al pump­kin patch and fall fes­ti­val on Gov­er­nors Island. This year the event will bring thou­sands of pump­kins to the Island’s his­toric Nolan Park, trans­form­ing the space into one of New York City’s largest and most unique pump­kin patch­es. Vis­i­tors are invit­ed to pick out their own pump­kins on Sat­ur­day, Octo­ber 24, or Sun­day, Octo­ber 25, 2026, from 10am – 5pm. 

In addi­tion to the pump­kin patch, this year’s event will also include trick-or-treat­ing; Gov­er­nors Island Ghost Tours; Fall Foliage Walks; autum­nal food and drink from Island ven­dors; a read­ing nook with Brook­lyn Book Bode­ga; pump­kin paint­ing; acti­va­tions from NYC Bird Alliance, Bil­lion Oys­ter Project, and Earth Mat­ter NY; and more free fun for the whole fam­i­ly. Per­for­mances will include tra­di­tion­al and con­tem­po­rary folk music curat­ed by long-time Gov­er­nors Island event part­ner Porch Stomp, dai­ly per­for­mances by Hopa­long Andrew, and more to be announced. Fea­tured food ven­dors include a mix of small busi­ness­es from Gov­er­nors Island and across the city, includ­ing Brigs Sweet Shop, Fan Fan Dough­nuts, Fauzia’s Heav­en­ly Delights, La Newyork­i­na, Lit­tle Eva’s, Kim­chi Taco, Pizze­ria Fan­tas­ti­ca, Six Coasts by Smor­gas­burg, Taco Vista, and Yel­low­Sun Coffee. 

“Pump­kin Point is back on Gov­er­nors Island, and we invite all New York­ers to hop on the fer­ry and enjoy a beau­ti­ful autumn week­end in his­toric Nolan Park,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“This year’s activ­i­ties real­ly cap­ture what makes Gov­er­nors Island so spe­cial by hon­or­ing its rich his­to­ry while cel­e­brat­ing the extra­or­di­nary des­ti­na­tion it has become. Vis­i­tors can explore our pump­kin patch, take their pick from thou­sands of pump­kins, and enjoy the crisp fall air just min­utes from Man­hat­tan and Brooklyn.” 

For more infor­ma­tion and for a full sched­ule of events, please vis­it www​.gov​is​land​.org/​p​u​m​p​k​i​n​point. Any pump­kins left over from Pump­kin Point will be com­post­ed on Gov­er­nors Island by Earth Mat­ter, the Island’s offi­cial com­post­ing part­ner. Earth Mat­ter com­posts all organ­ics col­lect­ed on Gov­er­nors Island onsite at their Com­post Learn­ing Cen­ter, open to the pub­lic week­ends through the fall. 

Pump­kin Point is gen­er­ous­ly sup­port­ed by Bloomberg Phil­an­thropies. The Gov­er­nors Island 2026 sea­son is gen­er­ous­ly sup­port­ed by the Black­stone Char­i­ta­ble Foun­da­tion, Bloomberg Phil­an­thropies, Don­ald A. Pels Char­i­ta­ble Trust, and Riv­ian Foundation. 

Gov­er­nors Island is open dai­ly year-round and is acces­si­ble by fer­ry from Man­hat­tan and Brook­lyn. For fer­ry sched­ules, oper­at­ing hours, things to do, and oth­er vis­i­tor infor­ma­tion, vis­it www​.gov​is​land​.org.

Sep 23 3:29 pm

Call­ing all NYC-based artists and arts non­prof­its! Bring your tal­ents to Gov­er­nors Island through two dif­fer­ent open calls, released by Gov­er­nors Island Arts on Wednes­day, Sep­tem­ber 23, 2026. 

1. Artists are invit­ed to apply to par­tic­i­pate in the 6^th Annu­al Gov­er­nors Island Arts Ice Sculp­ture Show, to be held Sat­ur­day, March 6, 2027. Project pro­pos­als should be inspired by this year’s theme, Traces. Cre­ative inter­pre­ta­tions wel­come, no pri­or carv­ing expe­ri­ence required! Click here to learn more and apply »
2. Arts non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tions are invit­ed to apply for the sea­son­al Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence pro­gram. Select­ed appli­cants receive free indoor pro­gram­ming space in the Island’s his­toric hous­es, open to the pub­lic week­ends each year from May-Octo­ber. Click here to learn more and apply »

Sep 16 1:22 pm

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island announced today a new part­ner­ship with Chest­nut Car­bon, who will test and demon­strate their nature-based car­bon removal solu­tion on Gov­er­nors Island as part of the Trust’s Cli­mate Pilot­ing Pro­gram. The Trust’s pro­gram allows cli­mate tech inno­va­tors from across New York City to uti­lize the Island’s built, social, and nat­ur­al envi­ron­ments to show­case their prod­ucts, gath­er data, engage with the pub­lic, scale their solu­tions, and ulti­mate­ly help to advance New York City’s lead­er­ship in cli­mate action. 

“Chest­nut Car­bon sup­ports the restora­tion and con­ser­va­tion of forest­land across the coun­try for long-term car­bon seques­tra­tion, enabled by their unique tech­nol­o­gy and inno­v­a­tive busi­ness mod­el,” said Lau­ren Wang, Direc­tor of Cli­mate Pro­grams at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“We’re proud to serve as a pilot site in a beloved pub­lic space where Chest­nut can sup­port the Trust in mon­i­tor­ing seques­tra­tion by its young urban for­est in Ham­mock Grove.”

“As a New York-based com­pa­ny, we’re proud to part­ner with the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island to sup­port cli­mate inno­va­tion right here in our home­town,” said Sarah Ford, Chief Forestry Offi­cer. ​“This pilot will deep­en our under­stand­ing of car­bon seques­tra­tion and ecosys­tem ben­e­fits in an urban for­est set­ting while advanc­ing the sci­ence of nature-based car­bon removal. We’re excit­ed to con­tribute to Gov­er­nors Island’s role as a liv­ing lab­o­ra­to­ry for cli­mate solutions.”

Although forests are one of the most effec­tive car­bon removal sys­tems on the plan­et, mea­sur­ing and ver­i­fy­ing their cli­mate impact remains a crit­i­cal bar­ri­er to scal­ing invest­ment in nature-based car­bon removal solu­tions. Chest­nut Car­bon strives to solve this prob­lem by sup­port­ing long-term for­est restora­tion and con­ser­va­tion, with research plots and project sites estab­lished in 37 states. 

On Gov­er­nors Island, Chest­nut is demon­strat­ing how nature-based car­bon removal works in an urban set­ting. Togeth­er with the Trust’s hor­ti­cul­ture and land­scap­ing teams, they have estab­lished sev­er­al research plots in Ham­mock Grove, a 10-acre exper­i­men­tal urban for­est with more than 1,300 trees. From 2026 to 2028, Chest­nut will use their pilot to study native species per­for­mance and car­bon seques­tra­tion poten­tial using advanced mon­i­tor­ing tech­nolo­gies, giv­ing an accu­rate pic­ture of these trees’ impact on the Island envi­ron­ment. In addi­tion, they will part­ner with the Trust to plant sev­er­al new chest­nut trees in Ham­mock Grove. 

The Gov­er­nors Island Cli­mate Pilot­ing Pro­gram offers ear­ly-stage com­pa­nies and inno­va­tors the oppor­tu­ni­ty to test and scale cli­mate prod­ucts and ser­vices in a real-world envi­ron­ment. Since its launch in 2023, the pro­gram has advanced more than two dozen projects relat­ed to nature-based solu­tions, liv­ing shore­lines, clean water, cir­cu­lar econ­o­my, build­ings, ener­gy, air qual­i­ty, and urban agri­cul­ture — open­ing doors to new cus­tomers, sup­pli­ers, tal­ent, investors, and pub­lic agency partnerships.

Gov­er­nors Island is at the fore­front of research­ing and demon­strat­ing solu­tions that can be scaled glob­al­ly. Its unique water­front envi­ron­ment com­ple­ments an award-win­ning park engi­neered for cli­mate change; near­ly one mil­lion annu­al vis­i­tors; oppor­tu­ni­ties for edu­ca­tion, research, and pilot­ing; pub­lic art­works engag­ing with cli­mate issues; and a grow­ing com­mu­ni­ty of edu­ca­tion­al, non­prof­it, and com­mer­cial ten­ants focused on cli­mate solu­tions — includ­ing Bil­lion Oys­ter Project, the Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School, NYU Gal­latin Wet­Lab, and the soon-to-open But­ter­milk Labs. 

The Trust and the New York City Mayor’s Office have devel­oped a vision to cre­ate the Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions, an ini­tia­tive on Gov­er­nors Island to accel­er­ate cli­mate solu­tions for cities. In April 2023, The New York Cli­mate Exchange, led by Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty and a con­sor­tium of part­ners, was select­ed as the initiative’s anchor insti­tu­tion fol­low­ing a two-year com­pet­i­tive process. The Exchange will devel­op a $700-mil­lion cam­pus on the Island focused on advanc­ing cli­mate solu­tions and prepar­ing New York­ers for green jobs, expect­ed to open in 2029.

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island’s cli­mate pro­grams are sup­port­ed by Ama­zon, Con Edi­son, New York Com­mu­ni­ty Trust, and Anonymous.

The Gov­er­nors Island 2026 sea­son is gen­er­ous­ly sup­port­ed by the Black­stone Char­i­ta­ble Foun­da­tion, Bloomberg Phil­an­thropies, Don­ald A. Pels Char­i­ta­ble Trust, and Riv­ian Foundation.

###

About the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island is the non­prof­it cor­po­ra­tion cre­at­ed by the City of New York that is respon­si­ble for the rede­vel­op­ment and oper­a­tion of 150 acres of Gov­er­nors Island. The Trust’s mis­sion is to real­ize the full poten­tial of Gov­er­nors Island for the inspi­ra­tion and enjoy­ment of all New York­ers, demon­strat­ing a bold vision for pub­lic space. For more infor­ma­tion, visit www​.gov​is​land​.org

Sep 11 8:54 am

“All avail­able boats…This is the Unit­ed States Coast Guard…Anyone want­i­ng to help with the evac­u­a­tion of Low­er Man­hat­tan report to Gov­er­nors Island.”

Each year on Sep­tem­ber 11, we hon­or the hun­dreds of mariners who answered Lt. Michael Day’s fate­ful call. In hon­or of the 25^th Anniver­sary, we are proud to share this sto­ry of how Gov­er­nors Island played a qui­et, yet impor­tant role in the recov­ery efforts on the day of the attacks — just one exam­ple of extra­or­di­nary acts of ser­vice and courage from across the City and beyond. On the morn­ing of Sep­tem­ber 11, 2001, 150 dif­fer­ent ves­sels – mer­chant ships, fire­boats, char­ter boats, tug­boats, pas­sen­ger fer­ries, and even the Stat­en Island Fer­ry – helped herd half a mil­lion peo­ple out of Low­er Man­hat­tan to safe­ty. This extra­or­di­nary feat, dubbed the ​“9/11 Boatlift,” is wide­ly con­sid­ered to be the largest civil­ian mar­itime evac­u­a­tion in his­to­ry, even larg­er than Dunkirk.

Addi­tion­al archival infor­ma­tion about this day can be found in Smith­son­ian Mag­a­zine and at the Sea­port Muse­um, which holds a rare first­hand record of this extra­or­di­nary response: ​“9÷11 Water Evac­u­a­tion,” 90 min­utes of video footage doc­u­ment­ing the evac­u­a­tion of Low­er Man­hat­tan by water.

Pho­to cour­tesy of the New York City Police Department/​NYC Munic­i­pal Archive

Sep 3 11:21 am

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island and The New York Cli­mate Exchange have unveiled the line­up for Cli­mate Week 2026 pro­gram­ming set for Sep­tem­ber 20 – 27, 2026, high­light­ing the Island’s grow­ing role at the fore­front of cli­mate inno­va­tion in New York City. This year’s events include dis­cus­sions, work­shops, per­for­mances, cli­mate tech demon­stra­tions, guid­ed tours, art exhi­bi­tions, a cli­mate pep ral­ly, and more pro­grams explor­ing the inter­sec­tions between sci­ence, nature, tech, pol­i­cy, advo­ca­cy, art, and community. 

“Cli­mate Week is a shin­ing exam­ple of what we’re grow­ing here on Gov­er­nors Island — an inno­va­tion des­ti­na­tion where work, edu­ca­tion, research, cre­ativ­i­ty, and play all hap­pen side by side,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“This year, we’re proud to join with The New York Cli­mate Exchange and all of our part­ners to present pro­gram­ming that shows the many ways cli­mate issues touch all our lives and fos­ters con­nec­tion across both dis­ci­plines and communities.”

“This week is a pre­view of what’s com­ing: lead­ers from busi­ness, gov­ern­ment, acad­e­mia, and com­mu­ni­ties in the same room, build­ing the con­nec­tions and part­ner­ships that will define The New York Cli­mate Exchange on Gov­er­nors Island for decades to come,” said M. San­jayan, CEO of The Exchange. ​“Cli­mate Week shows what’s pos­si­ble when peo­ple con­vene with pur­pose — our cam­pus on Gov­er­nors Island will make that pos­si­ble every day, not just one week a year.”

Orga­nized each year by the Cli­mate Group, Cli­mate Week NYC runs Sep­tem­ber 20 – 27, 2026, and is the largest annu­al cli­mate event of its kind. Gov­er­nors Island is at the fore­front of research­ing and demon­strat­ing solu­tions that can be scaled glob­al­ly, mak­ing it a nat­ur­al set­ting for the many events tak­ing place dur­ing Cli­mate Week. Its unique water­front envi­ron­ment com­ple­ments an award-win­ning park engi­neered for cli­mate change; near­ly one mil­lion annu­al vis­i­tors; oppor­tu­ni­ties for edu­ca­tion, research, and pilot­ing; pub­lic art­works engag­ing with cli­mate issues; and a grow­ing com­mu­ni­ty of edu­ca­tion­al, non­prof­it, and com­mer­cial ten­ants focused on cli­mate solu­tions — includ­ing Bil­lion Oys­ter Project, the Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School, NYU Gal­latin Wet­Lab, and the soon-to-open But­ter­milk Labs.

The Trust and the New York City Mayor’s Office have devel­oped a vision to cre­ate the Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions, an ini­tia­tive on Gov­er­nors Island to accel­er­ate cli­mate solu­tions for cities. In April 2023, The New York Cli­mate Exchange, led by Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty and a con­sor­tium of part­ners, was select­ed as the initiative’s anchor insti­tu­tion fol­low­ing a two-year com­pet­i­tive process. The Exchange will devel­op a $700-mil­lion cam­pus on the Island focused on advanc­ing cli­mate solu­tions and prepar­ing New York­ers for green jobs, expect­ed to open in 2029. 

Cli­mate Week NYC 2026 events on Gov­er­nors Island are orga­nized by the Trust, the Island’s com­mu­ni­ty of part­ners and ten­ants, and The Exchange and its core part­ners. A full sched­ule of events and pre­sent­ing orga­ni­za­tions can be found below and online at www​.gov​is​land​.org/​c​l​i​m​a​t​e​-week.

Gov­er­nors Island is open dai­ly year-round and is acces­si­ble by fer­ry from Man­hat­tan and Brook­lyn. For fer­ry sched­ules, oper­at­ing hours, things to do, and oth­er vis­i­tor infor­ma­tion, vis­it www​.gov​is​land​.org.

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island’s Cli­mate pro­grams are sup­port­ed by Ama­zon, Con Edi­son, New York Com­mu­ni­ty Trust, and Anonymous.

The Gov­er­nors Island 2026 sea­son is gen­er­ous­ly sup­port­ed by the Black­stone Char­i­ta­ble Foun­da­tion, Bloomberg Phil­an­thropies, Don­ald A. Pels Char­i­ta­ble Trust, and Riv­ian Foundation.

Aug 3 12:51 pm

On Sun­day, July 19, the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island host­ed a large-scale pub­lic screen­ing of the FIFA World Cup final match, with Spain and Argenti­na hold­ing steady at 0 – 0 through extra time, where Spain took the vic­to­ry. Immersed with­in the stun­ning back­drop of the Low­er Man­hat­tan sky­line on the Island’s his­toric Parade Ground, Rooftop Films boast­ed a large day­time screen with sound by Kar­lala Soundsys­tem and a DJ set by Khalil, with inter­na­tion­al food ven­dors lin­ing the edges of the field, high­light­ing the diverse her­itage of New York City.

Fans flocked to the Island from all five bor­oughs for the out­door watch par­ty, dubbed ​“The People’s Final” by May­or Zohran Mamdani’s office. That Sat­ur­day brought beau­ti­ful weath­er, with clear skies, tem­per­a­tures around 80 degrees and a breeze off the water. With acti­va­tions from I Am CaribBE­ING, Project 96, Down­town Unit­ed Soc­cer Club, Cobra March­ing Band & Majorettes, plus a ​“Match Day Mani” pop-up, there was some­thing for everyone.

In addi­tion to the large-scale view­ing par­ty, which like most events on Gov­er­nors Island was free and open to the pub­lic, water­front restau­rants Six Coasts by Smor­gas­burg and Taco Vista host­ed screen­ings. When Spain won, cheers could be heard Island-wide. On the idyl­lic fer­ry ride home aboard the Har­bor Charg­er, New York’s first hybrid-elec­tric fer­ry, the cher­ring con­tin­ued as the announce­ment came over the loud­speak­er: ​“Wel­come to the Gov­er­nors Island ferry”. 

Gov­er­nors Island and The May­or’s Office were proud to host this his­toric event, and wish to thank all of our part­ners who made it pos­si­ble, includ­ing Down­town Unit­ed Soc­cer Club, I Am CaribBE­ING, Project 96, Six Coasts by Smor­gas­burg, Threes Brew­ing, Mak­i­na Café, Lit­tle Eva’s, Pizze­ria Fan­tas­ti­ca, Kim­chi Taco Truck, Cobra March­ing Band, Khalil, DYCD NYC, and Kar­lala Soundsystem. 

Pho­to by Nas’­tas­sia Simpson

Jul 23 7:30 am

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island released a Request for Expres­sions of Inter­est (RFEI) on July 23, 2026, for the revi­tal­iza­tion of two his­toric build­ings on the Island, Build­ing 324 and Build­ing 330. The RFEI invites ideas from prospec­tive part­ners for the revi­tal­iza­tion of these his­toric assets, bring­ing them back into active, year-round use. The Trust is seek­ing respons­es that pro­pose arts and cul­tur­al, recre­ation­al, or oth­er pub­lic-fac­ing uses. The two adja­cent build­ings are locat­ed with­in the Gov­er­nors Island His­toric Dis­trict in an area becom­ing a major hub of activ­i­ty and invest­ment – steps away from one of the Island’s two pri­ma­ry fer­ry ter­mi­nals at Yan­kee Pier, and adja­cent to the future New York Cli­mate Exchange cam­pus. Orig­i­nal­ly con­struct­ed as a YMCA recre­ation cen­ter and a movie the­ater, respec­tive­ly, the build­ings fea­ture soar­ing ceil­ings and open floor plans. 

The com­plete RFEI can be viewed on the Trust’s web­site at www​.gov​is​land​.org/RFP.

“The for­mer YMCA and Fort Jay The­ater his­tor­i­cal­ly stood as cul­tur­al anchors of Gov­er­nors Island, and we’re thrilled to present a unique oppor­tu­ni­ty to breathe new life into these icon­ic build­ings,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“We’re seek­ing vision­ary part­ners with bold ideas for cul­tur­al, recre­ation­al, and pub­lic-fac­ing uses that can turn untapped poten­tial into vibrant spaces for every­one to enjoy.”

Build­ing 324 was con­struct­ed in 1926 and is a two-sto­ry, 26,000-square-foot Neo-Geor­gian brick build­ing that served as the Army YMCA for much of the Island’s mil­i­tary his­to­ry. The facil­i­ty his­tor­i­cal­ly housed a large audi­to­ri­um, an above-ground pool, and squash courts, host­ing per­for­mances and pro­vid­ing recre­ation­al oppor­tu­ni­ties for ser­vice­mem­bers sta­tioned on the Island. The Trust is cur­rent­ly final­iz­ing design on an approx­i­mate­ly $7 mil­lion dol­lar invest­ment into the building’s enve­lope and struc­tur­al ele­ments to ready it for its next chapter.

Build­ing 330 was built in 1937 under the super­vi­sion of the Army Motion Pic­ture Ser­vice. The build­ing, also known as the Fort Jay The­atre, is an approx­i­mate­ly 10,000 square-foot, sin­gle-sto­ry the­ater with 750 seats, a bal­cony, a soar­ing 20-foot-high ceil­ing in the main the­ater vol­ume, and ele­ments of 1930s-era Art Deco archi­tec­tur­al detail­ing at the prosce­ni­um and ceil­ing. An exte­ri­or tick­et booth under a columned entrance por­ti­co is in view of the Parade Ground. Used inter­mit­tent­ly since the Coast Guard’s 1996 depar­ture for exhi­bi­tions and per­for­mances includ­ing in part­ner­ship with Cre­ative Time, No Longer Emp­ty, and Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Coun­cil, the theater’s seats are still in place, and the build­ing retains much of its orig­i­nal character. 

Respon­dents to the RFEI may include either or both build­ings in their sub­mis­sions. The spaces also include poten­tial out­door space offer­ing the oppor­tu­ni­ty for respon­dents to incor­po­rate entry plazas and out­door pro­gram­ming spaces that engage the pub­lic while enhanc­ing and com­ple­ment­ing indoor activities.

With near­ly one mil­lion annu­al vis­i­tors, year-round fer­ry access, and a grow­ing com­mu­ni­ty of cul­tur­al, edu­ca­tion­al, and com­mer­cial ten­ants, Gov­er­nors Island offers an unmatched plat­form for pro­gram­ming and ameni­ties that are pub­lic-fac­ing, cre­ative­ly ambi­tious, and reflec­tive of New York City at its best. The Trust seeks Respon­dents with the vision and capac­i­ty to revi­tal­ize these his­toric struc­tures, with an empha­sis on arts, cul­tur­al, recre­ation­al, and oth­er pub­lic uses.

As described in the RFEI, pro­pos­als should adhere to the Trust’s sus­tain­abil­i­ty and resilien­cy design guide­lines, includ­ing full build­ing elec­tri­fi­ca­tion. The Trust will host vir­tu­al infor­ma­tion ses­sions on August 5 and August 19, 2026; site vis­its on August 12, August 26, and Sep­tem­ber 9, 2026; with ques­tions due in writ­ing by Sep­tem­ber 16, 2026, and final sub­mis­sions due by Octo­ber 26, 2026. 

Jul 8 11:00 am

New York­ers are invit­ed to watch the 2026 FIFA World Cup Final on the big screen on July 19

Island to host free match screen­ings, soc­cer clin­ics, pick-up games, and more lead­ing up to the final match — includ­ing offer­ings from Taco Vista, Six Coasts by Smor­gas­burg, and Project 96

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island today announced Island-wide watch par­ties, activ­i­ties, and events — includ­ing a free final match watch par­ty — cel­e­brat­ing the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Gov­er­nors Island. The acti­va­tions are designed to bring New York­ers of all back­grounds togeth­er to share the col­lec­tive joy of the game, cel­e­brate the city’s mul­ti­cul­tur­al com­mu­ni­ties, and cre­ate last­ing mem­o­ries in one of NYC’s most icon­ic out­door pub­lic spaces.

“We’re so excit­ed to join this glob­al cel­e­bra­tion that reflects the diver­si­ty, ener­gy, and spir­it that make New York City extra­or­di­nary,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“Gov­er­nors Island is unique­ly posi­tioned to bring peo­ple togeth­er, and we can’t wait to wel­come vis­i­tors, our part­ners, and all New York­ers to gath­er on the Island to cel­e­brate the world’s biggest sport­ing event with food, com­mu­ni­ty, crafts, oppor­tu­ni­ties for play, and — of course — the final match on the biggest screen possible.”

The cel­e­bra­tions will cul­mi­nate in The People’s Final on Sun­day, July 19, 2026, from 1PM to 6PM. Immersed with­in the stun­ning back­drop of the Low­er Man­hat­tan sky­line on the Island’s his­toric Parade Ground, the event will fea­ture a large-scale pub­lic screen­ing of the final match in part­ner­ship with Rooftop Films, soc­cer clin­ics and open play oppor­tu­ni­ties, live DJs and spe­cial per­for­mances, fam­i­ly-cen­tered activ­i­ties, and inter­na­tion­al food ven­dors high­light­ing the diverse her­itage of New York City. Event part­ners include Down­town Unit­ed Soc­cer Club, I Am CaribBE­ING, Project 96, Six Coasts by Smor­gas­burg, Threes Brew­ing, and more to be announced. The People’s Final is pre­sent­ed by the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island with sup­port from the New York City Mayor’s Office. 

Addi­tion­al events lead­ing up to The People’s Final from Island ven­dors, part­ners, and ameni­ties include month­ly P96 Play Days with Project 96 and watch par­ties at Taco Vista and Six Coasts by Smor­gas­burg. For ven­dor hours, reser­va­tions, and more, vis­it the Gov­er­nors Island website. 

The Gov­er­nors Island 2026 sea­son is gen­er­ous­ly sup­port­ed by the Black­stone Char­i­ta­ble Foun­da­tion, Bloomberg Phil­an­thropies, and the Riv­ian Foundation.

GET­TING TO GOV­ER­NORS ISLAND

Trust-oper­at­ed fer­ries run dai­ly between the Bat­tery Mar­itime Build­ing in Low­er Man­hat­tan and Sois­sons Land­ing on Gov­er­nors Island, with sea­son­al week­end ser­vice from Pier 6 in Brook­lyn Bridge Park and Atlantic Basin in Red Hook through Novem­ber 1, 2026. Round-trip fer­ry tick­ets are $5 for adults, with free fer­ry ser­vice avail­able for chil­dren 12 and under, old­er adults, NYCHA res­i­dents, IDNYC hold­ers, mil­i­tary ser­vice mem­bers, and Gov­er­nors Island mem­bers. Week­end fer­ries before 11AM are free for all vis­i­tors. The Trust recent­ly announced increased fer­ry ser­vice for the 2026 peak sea­son, with fer­ries run­ning every 15 min­utes from the Bat­tery Mar­itime Build­ing dur­ing peak trav­el times — includ­ing week­ends, hol­i­days, and week­day morn­ing rush hour. 

The Trust also offers free fer­ry fares for non­prof­it and com­mu­ni­ty-based orga­ni­za­tions, youth camps, and senior cen­ters. To inquire about group vis­its, orga­ni­za­tions may email groupvisits@​gov­is­land.​org.

In addi­tion, NYC Fer­ry serves Gov­er­nors Island dai­ly via the South Brook­lyn Route and the sea­son­al Gov­er­nors Island shut­tle. For tick­et­ing infor­ma­tion and full sched­ules for NYC Fer­ry, vis­it the NYC Fer­ry web­site, www.ferry.nyc.

Jun 10 3:00 pm

A new sculp­tur­al instal­la­tion com­mis­sioned by More Art in part­ner­ship with the Bil­lion Oys­ter Project and Gov­er­nors Island Arts

On View: July 30 – Novem­ber 30, 2026 • West­ern Prom­e­nade, Gov­er­nors Island, New York 

More Art is thrilled to announce the open­ing of The Oys­ter, a mon­u­men­tal out­door sculp­tur­al com­mis­sion by inter­na­tion­al­ly rec­og­nized Mohawk artist Alan Michel­son (Six Nations of the Grand Riv­er). The work will be on view on Gov­er­nors Island from July 30 through Novem­ber 30, 2026. 

Pre­sent­ed as part of More Art’s 2026 ini­tia­tive Refram­ing 1776: Land, Water, and the Work of Repair, The Oys­ter responds to the nation’s 250^th anniver­sary through Indige­nous per­spec­tives and envi­ron­men­tal his­to­ries. Devel­oped in part­ner­ship with Bil­lion Oys­ter Project, and co-pre­sent­ed by Gov­er­nors Island Arts, the instal­la­tion ref­er­ences pre-colo­nial Lenape oys­ter mid­dens — vast accu­mu­la­tions of shells reflect­ing long his­to­ries of habi­ta­tion, stew­ard­ship, and rec­i­p­ro­cal rela­tion­ship in the region. 

Part land­form, part amphithe­ater, The Oys­ter invites vis­i­tors to gath­er with­in and around the work and to reflect on the inter­wo­ven his­to­ries of extrac­tion, trade, nour­ish­ment, dis­place­ment, and envi­ron­men­tal change embed­ded in the har­bor itself. The piece recalls Indige­nous geo­glyphs and shaped shell mid­dens, while its con­struc­tion draws direct­ly on the log­ic of reef build­ing, in par­tic­u­lar the gabion and recy­cled-shell struc­tures employed by Bil­lion Oys­ter Project. 

Encir­cling the sculp­ture, a large-scale text instal­la­tion paint­ed in pur­ple and white gath­ers reflec­tions on oys­ters drawn from lit­er­a­ture, his­to­ry, ecol­o­gy, and pop­u­lar cul­ture. The text also incor­po­rates con­tri­bu­tions from stu­dents at New York Har­bor School and mem­bers of the Gov­er­nors Island com­mu­ni­ty, while the paint­ed text’s palette ref­er­ences wampum — shell beads his­tor­i­cal­ly used by Lenape and oth­er East­ern Wood­lands nations in sacred cul­tur­al exchanges. 

Fol­low­ing the pro­jec­t’s close, ele­ments of the sculp­ture will be returned to New York Har­bor as part of local reef restora­tion efforts, extend­ing the life of the art­work as liv­ing marine infra­struc­ture. The Oys­ter asks us to engage with the par­al­lel era­sures of Indige­nous life­ways and oys­ter ecolo­gies in the har­bor, while point­ing toward the pos­si­bil­i­ty of restora­tion and renewal. 

About the Artist 

Alan Michel­son is a cel­e­brat­ed New York-based Mohawk artist, cura­tor, writer, and mem­ber of Six Nations of the Grand Riv­er. For more than three decades, he has cre­at­ed site-respon­sive works in sculp­ture, video, instal­la­tion, and pub­lic art that engage place, mem­o­ry, and sup­pressed his­to­ries through both Indige­nous and West­ern cul­tur­al forms. 

The Knowl­edge Keep­ers, his acclaimed major pub­lic com­mis­sion, stands at the Hunt­ing­ton Avenue entrance of the Muse­um of Fine Arts, Boston. Oth­er cur­rent projects include Hanödaga:yas (Town Destroy­er): Reflect at the new Prince­ton Uni­ver­si­ty Art Muse­um. Major pub­lic works include Man­tle (2018), a per­ma­nent mon­u­ment hon­or­ing Vir­gini­a’s Native nations locat­ed on the grounds of the Thomas Jef­fer­son-designed Vir­ginia State Capi­tol in Richmond. 

His writ­ings have appeared in Aper­ture, Frieze, and Octo­ber, and his work was recent­ly fea­tured on Art21. His work is held in the col­lec­tions of the Whit­ney Muse­um of Amer­i­can Art, the Smith­son­ian Amer­i­can Art Muse­um, and the Nation­al Gallery of Cana­da, among oth­ers. Michel­son is co-founder and co-cura­tor of Indige­nous New York, the influ­en­tial series orga­nized with the Vera List Cen­ter for Art and Politics. 

Land Acknowl­edge­ment

We acknowl­edge that The Oys­ter is sit­u­at­ed on Pag­gank (“Nut Island”), now known as Gov­er­nors Island, with­in Lenape­hok­ing, the ances­tral home­land of the Lenape peo­ple, whose con­nec­tions to the waters of New York Har­bor extend deep into the past. 

Oys­ters and their shells were an impor­tant part of Lenape cul­ture, and the shell mid­dens once found through­out the area attest to gen­er­a­tions of Indige­nous pres­ence and rela­tion­ships with these waters. Formed through the accu­mu­la­tion of shells over time, these mid­dens embod­ied long­stand­ing rela­tion­ships between Indige­nous com­mu­ni­ties and the liv­ing abun­dance of the har­bor — rela­tion­ships pro­found­ly dis­rupt­ed by colonization. 

By return­ing atten­tion to the oys­ter as both eco­log­i­cal engi­neer and cul­tur­al anchor, The Oys­ter invites reflec­tion on his­to­ries embed­ded in the har­bor land­scape and on the Indige­nous com­mu­ni­ties whose con­nec­tions to these waters con­tin­ue today. 

Jun 2 10:14 am

Per­formed out­doors for the first time, my tongue is a blade is a dura­tional move­ment work in and around a spin­ning mir­rored struc­ture, ques­tion­ing the lim­its of atten­tion and test­ing the strength of our bonds

Pre­sent­ed as part of Gov­er­nors Island Arts’ INTER­VEN­TIONS per­for­mance series and co-pre­sent­ed by LMC­C’s Riv­er to Riv­er Festival

Gov­er­nors Island Arts, the pub­lic arts and cul­tur­al pro­gram pre­sent­ed by the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island, presents sweat vari­ant​’s my tongue is a blade June 19 & 20 at Colonels Row, Gov­er­nors Island. sweat vari­ant, the col­lab­o­ra­tion between Okwui Okpok­wasili and Peter Born, asks in this three-hour move­ment per­for­mance-prac­tice: How do we hold and trans­mit mem­o­ry through a series of ongo­ing and inti­mate embod­ied entan­gle­ments? How do we design an ongo­ing web of psy­chic and phys­i­cal connection?

Sup­port­ed by a dynam­ic son­ic score designed by Peter Born, my tongue is a blade sees five per­form­ers (Okwui Okpok­wasili, Bria Bacon, Kris Lee, AJ Wilmore, and Ny Opong) com­mit to remem­ber­ing one anoth­er, hold­ing one anoth­er, bear­ing one anoth­er, and sus­tain­ing the world that con­tains them. One per­former shapes a dis­tinct phys­i­cal lan­guage and then is joined by anoth­er with whom they share it. Inhab­it­ing this move­ment, they dance as one — until the first departs, and the one who remains moves on, haunt­ed by their absence. A new part­ner joins, and the trans­mis­sion continues.

A spin­ning mir­rored struc­ture (pro­duc­tion design by Peter Born) serves as the cen­ter­piece of this work and blurs the thresh­old between the observ­er and the observed. With this reflec­tive frame­work, my tongue is a blade folds the out­side world inward (for the first time ever now in out­door space, cre­at­ing a spin­ning reflec­tion of Colonels Row) and projects the inte­ri­or prac­tice out­ward, invit­ing the audi­ence to wit­ness this shared prac­tice and to res­onate with­in it.

Say the artists, ​“When we built this inside, pre­vi­ous­ly, in a church, inte­ri­or court­yard hall and an opera house, it felt like cre­at­ing a room with­in a room. Now, we are curi­ous to see if doing it out­doors will allow us to cre­ate an ​‘out­side with­in the out­side’ through the structure’s mir­rored reflections.”

A foun­da­tion­al con­cept of the work’s sound­scape is the idea of acoustic con­flu­ence: the jux­ta­po­si­tion of dis­tinct yet sub­tle vari­a­tions of sound which con­verge at mutu­al points of con­tact. my tongue is a blade removes the rhyth­mic pre­dictabil­i­ty of the down­beat in con­ven­tion­al song­writ­ing to allow per­form­ers to trav­el with­in a land­scape of their phys­i­cal imagination. 

my tongue is a blade is part of this year’s INTER­VEN­TIONS series, Gov­er­nors Island Arts’ mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary per­for­mance series curat­ed by Juan Pablo Siles, Asso­ciate Cura­tor and Pro­duc­er at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. INTER­VEN­TIONS presents local, nation­al, and inter­na­tion­al artists and invites audi­ences to expe­ri­ence work made and adapt­ed for the imme­di­ate envi­ron­ment. The per­for­mance is co-pre­sent­ed as part of LMCC’s 25^th Riv­er to Riv­er Fes­ti­val, a sum­mer pub­lic arts fes­ti­val cel­e­brat­ing artis­tic and cre­ative diver­si­ty, and pre­sent­ing live art and instal­la­tion in pub­lic spaces and in part­ner­ship with lead­ing insti­tu­tions in Low­er Manhattan.

my tongue is a blade​’s dra­maturg is Kather­ine Pro­fe­ta.

About sweat vari­ant

sweat vari­ant is the col­lab­o­ra­tive prac­tice of Okwui Okpok­wasili and Peter Born. Since 1996, they have been work­ing at the inter­sec­tion of dance, the­ater, and visu­al art to make chal­leng­ing and rig­or­ous work that reaf­firms that which has been deemed mar­gin­al as the true cen­ter through the explo­ration of Black inte­ri­or­i­ty. Okpok­wasili and Born are inter­est­ed in build­ing a spec­ta­cle of rad­i­cal inti­ma­cy, in which both per­form­ers and audi­ence are acknowl­edged as being locked in a mutu­al gaze. They hope to acti­vate a space that allows the audi­ence to ques­tion who they are look­ing at, and how they are look­ing. Okpok­wasili and Born have cre­at­ed the Bessie Award-win­n­ing pent up: a revenge dance and Bronx Goth­ic. The lat­ter con­tin­ues to tour inter­na­tion­al­ly, most recent­ly to the 2024 Milan Tri­en­nale. Oth­er per­for­mances include let slip, hold sway, adaku, part 1: the road opens, Adaku’s Revolt, swal­low the moon, Sit­ting on a Man’s Head, and poor people’s TV room, which also toured the US. Their work has been fea­tured inter­na­tion­al­ly, includ­ing at the Berlin Bien­nale, the Young Vic, and the Tate. Recent works include instal­la­tions in the exhi­bi­tions Grief and Griev­ance, Art and Mourn­ing in Amer­i­ca at the New Muse­um (NYC), Witch­hunt at the Ham­mer Muse­um in Los Ange­les, and Sex Ecolo­gies at Kun­sthall Trond­heim in Nor­way. poor people’s TV room (solo) instal­la­tion is in the Ham­mer Muse­um and Whit­ney Muse­um collections.

About Okwui Okpokwasili

Okwui Okpok­wasili (she/​her) is a Brook­­lyn-based per­former, actor, chore­o­g­ra­ph­er, and writer. Okpok­wasili has earned numer­ous acco­lades, includ­ing a 2025 Art Award from the Amer­i­can Acad­e­my of Arts and Let­ters, 2018 Prince­ton Uni­ver­si­ty Hod­der Fel­low­ship, a 2018 Herb Alpert Award, a 2018 Doris Duke Artist Award, and a 2018 MacArthur Fel­low­ship. Okpok­wasili was the 2015 – 2017 Randjelovic/​Stryker New York Live Arts Res­i­dent Com­mis­sioned Artist. She was the inau­gur­al artist for the Kravis Stu­dio Res­i­den­cy pro­gram at MoMA in 2022, and an artist in res­i­dence at the Brown Arts Insti­tute in 2023. She con­tin­ues to col­lab­o­rate with Ralph Lemon, Kevin Beasley, Saidiya Hart­man, and Kaneza Schaal, among oth­er artists.

About Peter Born

Peter Born (he/​him) works as a direc­tor, com­pos­er, and design­er of per­for­mance and instal­la­tion. In col­lab­o­ra­tion with Okpok­wasili, Born’s work has been fea­tured in the Berlin Bien­nale, Grief and Griev­ance: Art and Mourn­ing in Amer­i­ca at the New Muse­um, Witch Hunt at the Ham­mer Muse­um, Loop­hole of Retreat: Venice, and Sex Ecolo­gies at Kun­sthall Trond­heim, as well as per­for­mance work at The Muse­um of Mod­ern Art, New York; the Whit­ney Muse­um; MASS MoCA; the Irish Muse­um of Mod­ern Art; and ICA Boston; among oth­ers. He is the recip­i­ent of four New York Dance Per­for­mance Awards (Bessie Awards). His work as an art direc­tor and prop styl­ist has been fea­tured in video and pho­to projects with Vogue, Estee Laud­er, Barney’s Co-op, Bloom­ing­dales, Old Navy, 25 Mag­a­zine, The Wall Street Jour­nal, and No Strings Pup­pet Productions. 

Cred­its

my tongue is a blade was orig­i­nal­ly com­mis­sioned by the Irish Muse­um of Mod­ern Art as part of Take a Breath, with sup­port from the Sam Gilliam Foun­da­tion. Sup­port for sweat vari­ant is pro­vid­ed in part by the Mel­lon and Howard Gilman Foun­da­tions, as well as by the New Eng­land Foun­da­tion for the Arts’ Nation­al Dance Project with fund­ing from the Doris Duke Foundation.

Gov­er­nors Island Arts presents its pro­gram with sup­port from Cha­ri­na Endow­ment Fund, Anony­mous, Don­ald A. Pels Char­i­ta­ble Trust, Sur­go Foun­da­tion US, the New York State Coun­cil on the Arts (NYSCA) with the sup­port of the Office of the Gov­er­nor and the New York State Leg­is­la­ture, Rip­ple Foun­da­tion, Great Hill, and the Howard Gilman Foundation.

Sup­port for INTER­VEN­TIONS is pro­vid­ed by the NYC May­or’s Office of Media & Entertainment.

About Gov­er­nors Island Arts

Gov­er­nors Island Arts, the pub­lic arts and cul­tur­al pro­gram pre­sent­ed by the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island, cre­ates trans­for­ma­tive encoun­ters with art for all New York­ers, invit­ing artists and researchers to engage with the issues of our time in the con­text of the Island’s lay­ered his­to­ries, envi­ron­ments, and archi­tec­ture. Gov­er­nors Island Arts achieves this mis­sion through tem­po­rary and long-term pub­lic art instal­la­tions and exhi­bi­tions, an annu­al Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence pro­gram in the Island’s his­toric hous­es, and the curat­ed mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary INTER­VEN­TIONS per­for­mance series. Learn more at www​.gov​is​land​.org/arts.